Last winter I couldn't bring myself to ride my bike outside. Kingston, Ontario does a poor job of removing snow, so road biking was out. Mountain biking trails are less-than-accessible from the city's downtown, and I had yet to invest in a pair of studded tires. I didn't have a living situation that was indoor trainer friendly so I tried the gym, but something about riding a trainer indoors to the tune of overly self-aware "bros" overtly gawking at themselves in the mirror didn't really do it for me. I tried running. Meh. It was ok.
Then it was summer.
Then there were dirt trails.
Then I tried running again.
Last Sunday I ran my first half marathon, the Half Wit Half. A trail race near Reading, PA. The 13.1 miles wove through Mount Penn's beautiful single and double track trails. I ran the whole thing next to my sister and half an hour behind one of my oldest friends in the world - in the rain.
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| post-race check out those pie muscles in the middle! |
And you know what?
It was fun!
Until mile 10 and then my knee hurt. And then Monday my knees hurt and my ankle hurt. And then Tuesday my knees didn't hurt anymore, but my calves and my ankle hurt. And now it is a week later and my ankle is still slightly sore and as a result I'm not racing my bike tomorrow. The Rattling Creek 50. Unfinished business from last year to remain unfinished until next year just to make sure I don't really mess it up.
I think that if I could learn how to run so that it didn't hurt for the following 5 days, I could enjoy running. However, as it stands, not only am I no good at it, but it has prevented me from riding in one of the best long races around. Nonsensical. And speaking of nonsensical behavior, I'm registered for Labor Pains 12 hour running race as part of a team for Labor Day weekend.
